A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tapping saddles and more particularly to a tapping saddle that may be used to establish connections on a wide variety of pipe diameters.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Tapping saddles are used to make lateral connections to large diameter pipes. For example, in municipal water systems, residential connections are established by tapping into the large diameter water main with a smaller diameter service line connected to the residence.
Typically, tapping saddles are made from castings which include a first semicircular section having a tapping valve integrally formed therewith and a second semicircular section. The semicircular sections are rigid and have an inside diameter substantially equal to the outside diameter of the pipe to be tapped. The semicircular sections are bolted together.
Most piping systems include pipes of various outside diameters. Accordingly, it is necessary for operators to inventory a large number of tapping saddles of various sizes. The necessity to carry large inventories is costly to the operators.
There have been proposed tapping saddles that could be used to tap into pipes of different diameters. Examples of such tapping saddles are disclosed in Dunmire of U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,272 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2454833. However, for one reason or another, such adjustable tapping saddles have not become generally accepted and have not supplanted the cast saddles.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tapping saddle that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art. More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a tapping saddle that may be used to tap into pipes of varying outside diameter. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a tapping saddle for use with varying diameter pipes that is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to install.